What if
by beccapaige
Summary: What if it was The Hunger Games exactly, just 24 years earlier? What if...


**Setting:** It's the same thing as in the books, Gale and Katniss hunting in the woods, Peeta loving her from a far. It's the same exact everything with the same people just 24 years earlier. Everything is the same as it is in the first book, but instead of it being the 74th Hunger Games that is coming up, it's the 50th, Quarter Quell. Haymitch won the 25th Quarter Quell. Once again, everything is the same.

Katniss POV

When the screams of a young girl fill my ears, I'm not surprised. It's Prim, having nightmares about the Reaping, and even I was a little scared, and that's saying something. I walk over to mom's bed that holds Prim. This year is the Quarter Quell, and they announced that there will be twice as many tributes this year. The odds aren't really in anyone's favor.

I stand up from the creaky bed as Prim falls asleep to my singing.

I slip my arms through my father's old hunting jacket and head, illegally, into the misty woods to hunt.

A deer, first one I've seen all year, catches my green hazel eyes. I take my hidden bow and arrow, the one thing I've masterd, from a tree and aim to shoot. My finger's release the bows as I hear a familiar voice.

"What were you going to do with that?" Gale asks laughing. The deer then runs away and my now landed arrow misses.

"Gale! What's the hell is your problem?" I can't help but show a hint of a smile. He's right, what would I have done with that? We have peacemakers and although some are kind and love the food we bring into the Hub, you still have to be careful. And it being it the reaping today, this place is for sure to be on double the watch today.

"Look what I have." He says in his mysterious way, and pulls out a loaf of bread.

"Wow! What did that cost you?" I wonder as I run over to pick off a piece.

"A squirrel." He shrugs, taking his own bite.

"Nice." I barely make it out with the warm bread in my mouth. I rip off another piece and cheers with him. "Happy Hunger Games!"

"And may the odds be ever in your favor."

We make our way to the town square for the reaping. Effie, District 12's escort for this year, droans on and on of what we have heard for years. The same general pointless stuff. The video plays. She speaks again, this time I'm paying attention because _this _is important. Her unmistakably Capitol accent reads "Ladies first!" Effies hand wavers over the bowl that holds who knows how many, helpless, undeserving, young girls names in it. "First up, Primrose Everdeen!"

My mind, it goes completely blank. I feel myself fall back words but my feet move towards the stage, towards my scared sister.

"Prim!" I scream running through Peacemakers. It doesn't work, she is pushed to the stage steps. This is it. "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" I yell, even though I am the only voice here. My mind is racing, everything is in fast motion. I feel like I'm on a drug, a drug with the name of The Hunger Games. I scramble up onto the stage as Primrose is pulled down. Gale has to come to come over to pick her up away from me.

"What is your name, dear?" Effie asks, her abnormal pink colored lips still holding a smile.

"Katniss Everdeen." I spit out.

"Well, Katniss, let's see who is the other lucky girl tribute that will be joining you in this ever exciting Quarter Quell!" She chirps it in a bit too eager voice. Her hands, once again, drop into the glass bowl. It reads, "Katniss Everdeen! Oh.. well it seems you are already up here." She laughs it off and returns to the bowl.

What if I hadn't volunteered for Prim? I'd be up on stage with my own sister right now..

What if my name was called first? The Hunger Games is just a world of what ifs..

Effie reads the slip of paper. "Madge Undersee!"

Madge? Oh no, not her.. I could never kill her, very much even hurt her... the girl I sell strawberries to, the only person I sit at lunch with.. my only actual friend besides Gale..

"Come along dear!" Effie stretches her arm to the shocked Madge. I'd look at her but my mind is elsewhere. "Now for the gentlemen!" Gosh, does she always have to scream? Effie returns with yet another slip of paper. "Peeta Mellark!"

Him? No, no no this can't be! I'm the type of person who doesn't join in with everyone else, I stay to myself mainly. That's why Gale and Madge are my only two friends, and now she's up here with me. But Peeta, the boy with the bread, who took a whipping to feed a starving girl he didn't even know.. the only other person you could say I've interacted with. That's three people, and 2/3 are up here with me. One I don't even know, but owe something to.

My minds going crazy, it's everywhere. I really just want to push Effie off the stage for her horrible choosing. I know it's not her fault completely but that doesn't stop my anger.

I don't want to pay the slightest attention as she picks the last tribute to visit their doom. I'm freaking out so much, I don't even hear her booming voice as she reads out the last boy. It doesn't even matter, because out of the few people that have been apart of my life even one bit, half of them are already up here, it can't get worse. But from all the looks I'm getting, it must be bad. That's when I see him, the only person moving through the crowd to the stage.

"Gale Hawthrone! Come along, deary!"

What if it gets worse than this?


End file.
